different ways. One is suggested by the sceptre of Poseidon, that Plato
says was the first king of Atlantis, and is represented by the Greek
mythologists as being a son of Kronos; his three-pronged trident being an
allusion to the _three_ great islands that formed his kingdom, North and
South America and Atlan, that now lies buried under the waves of the
Atlantic ocean. The emblem [Symbol: trident with wiggly prongs] placed in
the hands of _Vul_ the god of the atmosphere in the Chaldean mythology,
found also in those of the Hindoo gods, may likewise represent the three
worlds or great regions that the Egyptian and Maya hierogrammatists
designed by the character [Symbol: three-pointed crown] in the hieroglyph
for the name of the "Lands of the West," which the latter also figured as
the sacred tree with three branches,[4] a simile of which we find in
Scandinavia, in the _three roots_ of the sacred ash Yggdrasil, mystic-world
tree, and the _three_ heavens, and the three worlds whose destruction, by
water, was prophesied by Vishnu.
[Illustration]
The deification of the "World" composed of three parts forming a great
whole, may have been the origin of the Trimourti, or Triune god, so
prevalent among the ancient nations of antiquity, and probably led to the
mystification of number 3. We find it symbolized all over the earth, in
every nation. We see it in Mayax in the three platforms on which are raised
the most ancient edifices; in the three rooms that formed the temple where
the mysteries were performed; in the three steps that led to the first or
lower platform in all sacred edifices; in the 21 metres (3 × 7) of all the
principal pyramids in Yucatan; in the three concentric circles of the
Zodiac. We meet with it constantly in India, in the _vyahritis_ or three
sacred words; the three ornaments or _saranas_; the three principal
classes; the three ways of salvation; the three fetters of the soul or
_gunas_; the three eyes in Siva's forehead; the three strands of the sacred
cord worn by the initiates of the three principal classes; the three
letters of the sacred word A.u.m. In Egypt the three thonged flagelum of
Osiris; the triple phallus carried in procession at the festival of the
Paamylia in honor of the birth of Osiris, and also the triads, as likewise
in Chaldea.
Another way of accounting for the mystification of number 3, is by taking
heed of the indications of Orpheus, Plato, Proclus, and the other Greek
philosophers who had been admitted to the participation of the secrets
communicated in the mysteries to those worthy of being entrusted with them.
They tell us that the _three_ intellects of the Demiurgos, of the triple
deity, were "_three kings_."
[Illustration: [5]]
The author of the Troano MS., relates at some length the history of the
three sons of king _Can_; and of the troubles that arose among them when,
after the death of their father, the reins of the government fell into
their hands. Of that fact a faint tradition, very much distorted, seems to
have still existed among the aborigines of Central America at the time of
the Spanish conquest; for Bishop Landa states: "That it was said that once
upon a time three lords, brothers, governed the country together." Those
three brothers, sons of king _Can_, are realities, personages who have
certainly lived a mundane existence, since we not only have their
portraits, their weapons, and their ornaments, but also their mortal
remains. They recall vividly the three sons of Adam, the three sons of Seb,
and the three sons of Kronos. The author of the Troano MS., informs us that
the members of the family of king _Can_ were deified after their death, and
worshiped in temples, the ruins of which still exist buried in the depths
of the forests of Yucatan under a shroud of verdure. It is not at all
improbable that _Cay_, the elder brother and high-pontiff having instituted
with his father the sacred mysteries, took as symbol of the various degrees
into which they divided them, the number of the members of their family, in
order to perpetuate their name and history through the coming ages. This
explanation seems the more plausible, if we remember that Eusebius tells us
that the Egyptians represented the supreme Deity under the shape of a
serpent (Canhel) that was as superior to the triads, as the father is to
his children in whom he rejoices. "_Numero Deus impare gaudet_." In this
connection the _three Hoang-ti_, of Chinese mythological times, might also
be mentioned. They too had the shape of serpents.
Among the ancient civilized nations of the eastern continents number 5 was
also considered mystic. Frequent mention is made of it in their sacred
books. In China it occupies a conspicuous place among the celestial or
perfect numbers, as 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, are called in the _y-king_, or Canonical
book of Changes; a very ancient work, so highly esteemed by the wise
philosopher Confucius (Kong-fou-tse) that he was seldom seen without it.
There we read of the five elements, water, fire, wood, metal, and earth; of
the five kinds of grain; of the five colors, black, red, green or blue,
yellow and white; of the five tastes, salt, bitter, sour, acid, and sweet;
of the five tones in music; of the five relations of life between men;
those between a king and its ministers, a father and his children, a
husband and his wife, elder and younger brothers, and between friends; of
the five virtues, philanthropy, uprightness, decorum, prudence, fidelity;
of the five organs of the body, kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, and spleen;
of the five Chang-ti, or elementary generations; of the five parts that
form the heavens; of the five seasons of the year; of the five genii that
govern the five elements; of the five principal mountains of the empire; of
the five tutelary mountains.
In India number 5 is also very prevalent in things pertaining particularly
to psychological conceptions or religious observances; so they speak of the
five organs of intelligence, by means of which the external objects are
perceived; of the five organs of action; the five elements, the five great
oblations; of the five great sacrifices; the five great fires, etc. In
Mayax it was likewise a mystic number, since we find this simbol [Symbol:
five dots] carved at each end of the southern apartment in the edifice
consecrated to the celebration of the sacred mysteries. It appears in the
number of steps leading from the courtyards or terraces to the principal
apartments in the "House of the Governor," "the palace of king _Can_" and
other edifices at Uxmal, and in other buildings. It is the number
particularly set apart for the second of the three platforms that compose
the base on which all the ancient temples and palaces of the Mayas are
raised. In the rites of modern Freemasonry, it is still the sacred number
related to the second degree. In the Troano MS., the legends of all the
compartments into which the work is divided, as in chapters, are composed
of five characters, to indicate that said legends are the headings, that is
_ho-ol_, the beginning, the head.
This number may have become sacred, in the mysteries, among the Mayas, in
remembrance of the number of the children of king _Can_; for besides his
three sons _Cay_, _Aac_, and _Coh_, he had, by his wife _Zoo_, two
daughters, _Moo_ and _Nicte_, whose names bear a striking resemblance to
_T-Mau_, one of the names of Isis and _Nike_ her sister. So king _Can_ by
his wife _Zo[c]_, had five children, just as _Seb_ had by his wife _Nut_ in
Egypt; these being _Aroeris_, _Set_, _Osiris_, _Isis_, and _Nike_. Strange
coincidence, that may, however, give us a knowledge of the origin of the
mystification of number five.
SEVEN seems to have been the sacred number _par excellence_ among all
civilized nations of antiquity. Why? This query has never been
satisfactorily answered. Each separate people has given a different
explanation, according to the peculiar tenets of their religion. That it
was the number of numbers for those initiated to the sacred mysteries there
can be no doubt. Pythagoras, who had borrowed his ideas on numbers from the
Egyptians, calls it the "Vehicle of life," containing body and soul, since
it is formed of a quartenary, that is: _Wisdom and Intellect_; and a
_trinity_ or _action_ and _matter_. Emperor Julian, in _Matrem_ and in
_Oratio_, expresses himself thus: "Were I to touch upon the initiation into
our secret mysteries, which the Chaldees bacchised, respecting the
_seven-rayed_ god, lighting up the soul through him, I should say things
unknown to the rabble, very unknown, but well known to the blessed
Theurgists."
Whatever that knowledge may have been, and their esoteric explanation of
the cause of the mystification of number seven, can only be surmised
to-day; but it is not improbable that it was to be found in some event in
the early history of the race whose traditions we find scattered broadcast
over the Earth. We have seen that the family of king _Can_ was composed of
_seven members_, who became rulers of the _seven_ cities that bear their
names, the ruins of which still exist in the forests of Yucatan, and by the
beauty and richness of the ornamentation, the massiveness and finish of the
walls of their temples and palaces, excite the admiration of the beholder.
These personages, deified after their death, have been worshiped in various
countries, and are yet in some, under different names. May not the
remembrance of the existence of these _seven_ ancient rulers of Mayax, have
been the origin of the tradition of the _seven_ divine rulers of Egypt; of
the _seven Manous_ that according to the Brahmins, governed the world in
the night of times; of the _seven Richis_ or holy personages who assisted
them; of the _seven princes_ of the Persian court; and the _seven
councillors_ of the king; of the _seven Ameshaspants_ or first angels; of
the _seven great gods_ of the Assyrians; or the _seven primitive gods_
regarded by the Japanese as their ancestors and said by them to have
governed the world during an incalculable number of years; of the _seven
Cabiri_, worshiped by the Pelasgians at Lemnos and Samothracia; the _seven_
great gods in theogony of the Nahuatls? Do we not see a simile of the _Ah
Ac chapat_ or _seven-headed_ serpent of the Mayas, totem of their _seven
primitive Rulers_, that is of the _seven members_ of king _Can's_ family,
in the _seven-headed heavenly Serpent_ on which rests Vishnu, the Indian
creator, that corresponds to the Egyptian _Kneph_ or the _Mehen_ (_Canhel_)
of the Mayas; or in the _seven_ serpents that form the crown of _Siva_; or
again in the _Seven-rayed god Heptaktis_, of which the emperor Julian was
so reluctant to speak?
It would seem that the duration of certain religious festivals was fixed to
commemorate the existence on Earth of these _seven_ primitive gods or
rulers, the tradition of which we find in all countries where we meet with
vestiges of the Mayas. So we see the _seven days_ of the festival of the
Eleusinian mysteries; the _seven days_ of the festival in honor of the bull
Apis, a symbol of Osiris; the _seven days_ of the feast of the tabernacles.
The septenary system was also adopted for the same purpose no doubt, in
Mayax, since we find the _seven_ cities dedicated to each of the members of
king Can's family; the _seven_ pyramids that adorned the city of Uxmal; the
_seven_ turrets that ornamented the south façade of the north wing of king
Can's palace at Uxmal, each turret inscribed with the name of one of the
members of his family; those dedicated to the females being on the east end
of the wing. The _seven gradients_ into which is divided the third or
uppermost of the three platforms that serve as a substructure to the
temples and palaces; the _seven superposed gradients_, forming all the
pyramids calling to mind the _seven terraces_ of the temple of the _seven_
lights at Borsippa, the most perfect form of Chaldee "temple tower," and
the "pyramid degrees" at Sakkara, although in this Egyptian pyramid the
gradients are more numerous. The _seven rooms_ built on the west side of
the conical mound that supports the temple in which the mysteries were
performed at Uxmal: each room again being dedicated to one of the members
of king Can's family; the bust of the person to whom it was consecrated
being affixed over the doorway. The _seven courses_ of the stones used in
the construction of the walls and of the triangular arches that form the
ceilings of the rooms. The same system prevails in the arrangement of the
grand gallery in the centre of the great pyramid at Ghizzeh in Egypt. In
that monument as in all the antique edifices of Mayax, the proportional
scale followed by the architects in the drawing of their plans is in
accordance with the numbers 3, 5, 7, and their multiples.
The predilection of the nations of antiquity in which the sacred mysteries
were celebrated, for number _seven_ appears in many ways. The _seven days_
that the rainfall that produced the deluge lasted, according to the
Chaldeans, is reproduced in the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the deluge
by Vishnu to Satyravata, as we read of it in the _Bhagavata purana_; and
the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the same event, made by the Lord to
Noah, according to Genesis; on account of the _seven days_ of rainfall the
Babylonian priests used _seven vases_ in the sacrifices; and in the
hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven Marouts_ or genii of the winds; the
_seven rounds_ of the ladder in the cave of Mithra. The Aryans had the
_seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the sun; the _seven Apris_ or
shapes of the flame; the _seven rays of Agni_; the _seven steps_ of Buddha
at his birth. The Egyptians had divided their nation into _seven classes_;
the week into _seven days_: according to them the creation was completed in
_seven days_. Among the Hebrews, we find the _seven lamps_ of the ark, and
of Zacharias vision; the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick; the
_seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple; the _seven years
of plenty; and the seven years of famine_. In the Christian dispensation,
the _seven churches_ with the _seven angels_ at their head; the _seven
golden candlesticks_; the _seven heads_ of the beast that rose from the
sea; the _seven seals_ of the book; the _seven trumpets_ of the angels; the
_seven vials_ full of the wrath of God; the _seven last plagues_ of
Apocalypse. In Greek mythology, the _seven heads_ of the hydra killed by
Hercules, the _seven islands_ sacred to Proserpine mentioned by Proclus.
The prevalence of _seven_ as a mystic number among the inhabitants of the
"Western Continent" is not less remarkable. It frequently occurs in the
_Popol-Vuh_. We find it besides in the _seven families_ said by Sahagun and
Clavigero to have accompanied the mystical personage named _Votan_, the
reputed founder of the great city of Nachan, identified by some with
Palenque. In the _seven caves_ from which the ancestors of the Nahualts are
reported to have emerged. In the _seven cities_ of Cibola, described by
Coronado and Niza, the site of which has been accurately fixed by Mr. Frank
Cushing in the immediate neighborhood of the village of Zuñi. In the _seven
Antilles_; in the _Seven heroes_ who, we are told, escaped the deluge.
Can it be maintained that this acceptation of _seven_ as a mystic number by
nations so heterogeneous and living so far apart, and from the remotest
ages, is purely accidental? The origin of its mystification has never been
explained. It has been transmitted to us by our predecessors, who
themselves had accepted it from theirs, without knowing why it was made the
sacred number of the third degree in the rites of initiation into
Freemasonry. True, in receiving the degree the initiated are told the
esoteric meaning attached to it in modern times; but this meaning does not
give the origin of its mystification. In fact, it is an invention of our
days.
That it was the sacred number of the highest degree of the sacred mysteries
in Mayax is evident. We have seen that 3 was the number of the male
children of king Can; 5 that of his sons and daughters; 7 was consequently
that of the members of the whole family. It is not therefore improbable
that to commemorate that fact, 7 was made the sacred number of the third
degree of their sacred mysteries, and that this was the origin of its
mystification.
In these pages I have presented, without commentaries, a few of the facts
that twelve years researches among the ruins of the antique temples and
palaces of the Mayas, a knowledge of their language (still spoken by their
descendants, and in some places, as in the vicinity of Peten, in all its
pristine purity); the deciphering of certain mural inscriptions; the study
of the sacred book of the Quiches, and the interpretation of passages in
the Troano MS., have disclosed to me concerning the history, civilization,
cosmogonical conceptions, religious tenets and practices of the ancient
inhabitants of Yucatan.
It is for you, reader, to judge if such facts are worthy your
consideration, and of the truthfulness of my assertion that a knowledge of
the history of the primitive dwellers in these "Lands of the West" will
help to raise the veil that has covered during so many centuries the origin
of the first traditions of mankind. Although in the first annual report of
the executive committee of the "Archæological institute of America," we
read that: "The study of American archæology relates indeed to the
monuments of a race that never attained to a high degree of civilization
and that has left no trustworthy records of continuous history. It was a
race whose intelligence was for the most part of a low order, whose
sentiments and emotions were confined within a narrow range, and whose
imagination was never quickened to find expression of itself in poetic or
artistic forms of beauty. From what it was or what it did, nothing is to be
learned that has any direct bearing on the progress of civilization." With
all due respect for the learning of the gentlemen who have attached their
names to so astounding an assertion, I beg to differ from their opinion
expressed so emphatically. I differ because I have seen and photographed
the constructions left by the mighty races that have preceded us on this
continent. They have not. Because I have studied for years, _in situ_,
these monuments that attest to the high civilization of their builders.
They have not. Because I have learned the language in which they have
consigned part at least of their history in inscriptions carved on stones,
and read some of said inscriptions. They have not. Indeed, on this
continent, not far from New Orleans, exist the relics of past generations
which are as interesting, if not more so, as those of Egypt, Babylonia,
Greece, and Italy; as deserving the attention of all students of
archæology, of history, of ethnology, and philology. It is time yet to save
from utter destruction the last records of ancient American history, that
are crumbling every day more and more, and are being destroyed by the hand
of ignorance and cupidity. A few years more, and all intelligible traces of
them will have disappeared. Will nothing be done in this country to
preserve what remains of the ancient American civilization? of that
civilization which seems to have been the fountain-head at which the
philosophers of all nations, in the remotest antiquity, have come to
acquire knowledge and drink inspiration from the learning and wisdom of the
Maya sages.
Americans have established in Athens schools for the study of Greek
Archæology; in Alexandria, for the decipherment of the inscriptions carved
on the walls of the temples, on the obelisks, and in the papyri found in
the tombs in Egypt; is it not time that students in United States should
direct their attention to the ancient history of the continent on which
they live? It is not altogether lost, and the tongue in which it is written
is not a dead language. Maya is one of the oldest forms of speech, cöeval,
if not anterior to Sanscrit. The names Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc., etc., of
the letters of the Greek alphabet, form a curious epic poem in that
language. There are many interesting inscriptions in it that only await
decipherment to illumine the past records of the race in America. Many of
these precious documents exist in the City of New York. They will reveal
the history of the mighty nations that have dwelt on this "Western
Continent;" they will tell us of the origin of many of our primitive
traditions. Why then not found in Yucatan, in the midst of the ruins of the
temples and colleges of the learned priesthood of Mayax, a school where
students of American archæology can learn with their language, what the
Maya sages knew of man's origin, of his intellectual development, of the
past of their people, of the colonists they sent to other parts of the
world, where they carried the arts, sciences, and religion of the mother
country and its civilization from which our own is descended?
After twelve years of incessant labors and great hardships, unaided by any
government or scientific society, having to encounter opposition, and
surmount countless difficulties placed maliciously in our way by those
whose duty it should have been to afford us all protection, robbed of our
finds by the Mexican government which has even refused to indemnify us for
the money expended in making these discoveries, Mrs. Le Plongeon and
myself, after saving from destruction many important documents and relics,
have at last found a key that will unlock the door of that chamber of
mysteries. Shall it be allowed to remain closed much longer? We have
lifted, in part at least, the veil that has hung so long over the history
of mankind in America in remote ages. Shall it be allowed to fall again?
Will no efforts be made by American students, by men of wealth and leisure
in the United States, to remove it altogether?
INDEX.
----
A
_Aac_, his history, 78-79.
-- protecting genius of, 90.
-- offer of marriage by, 83.
_Abel_, murder of, 74.
-- meaning of the name of, 85.
_Adam_, a myth, 1.
_Adrian_, Emperor, 27.
_Ah-ac-chapat_, seven-headed serpent, its meaning, 67.
_Akkadian language_, 33.
_Alom_, the creator, 56.
_Alexander the Great_, 29.
_Amautas_, 47,
_Angrand_, quoted, 108.
_Arch_, triangular, 37.
_Architects_, foundation of society of, 3.
_Ardvi çoura anahita_ (goddess), 28.
_Asp_, badge of royalty, why, 119.
-- figure of Central America, 120.
_Atlantis_, submerged, 41.
-- record of submersion of, in Egypt and Mayax, 91.
-- figured as a black man, 92.
-- its destruction, 11,500 years ago, 106.
_Aum_, figured as an equilateral triangle, 60.
_Auvergne_, (Guy of) burned alive, 3.
B
_Bacon_, Roger, quoted, 50.
_Balche_, nectar, amrita, beverage of the gods, 94.
_Bâli_, murdered, 77.
_Bearded men_ in Mayax, 71.
_Benoit_ (Pope), renews bull of excommunication, 6.
_Berosus_, on the creation of the world according to the Chaldees, 110.
_Bird deity_ at Kioto, Japan, 107.
_Birch_, Samuel, quoted, 26.
_Bitol_, creator, 56.
_Black_ populations in America, 87.
_Bottles_, Chinese, found in the tombs of Egypt, in the ruins of
Hissarlik, 57.
_Brahmins_, 29-32.
_Brothers_ (in India), 29.
_Bruce_, Robert, gives protection to the Knights Templars, 3.
_Building Associations_, Roman, 14.
_Burnouf_, Emile, 57.
C
_Cabiri_ (mysteries), 18.
_Camazotz_, god of bats, 44.
_Can_, king of Mayax, 45.
-- his family, 77.
-- royal titles of, 83.
-- deified, and represented with a mastodon's head, 93.
-- members of his family worshiped in Japan, 95.
_Cay_, high pontiff, 19, 45.
_Chamber_ of Police of Paris, prohibit Freemasonry, 6.
_Charles_ I., King, 4.
_Chichen-Itza_, the city of serpents, 108.
_Christians_, first, 1.
_Church_ of Rome opposes Freemasonry, 5.
-- accuses M.·. of heresy, burns them alive, 12.
-- persecutes Chaldean magicians and Egyptian priests, 14.
_Cibola_, seven cities of, 48.
_Cilician_ pirates, 27.
_Circular_ buildings in Yucatan, their use, 64.
_Clement_ V. (Pope), abolishes the order of Knights Templars, 3.
-- entices Jacques de Molay to Paris, 2.
-- death of, 4.
_Clement_ XII. (Pope), excommunicates all Freemasons, 6.
-- persecutes them, 7.
_Clement_ of Alexandria, quoted, 25.
_Cogolludo_, quoted, 124.
_Coh_, murdered by his brother, 80.
-- who was, 78.
-- analysis of remains of, 84.
-- statue of, robbed by Mexican Government, 87.
_Colebrook_, H. T., quoted, 54, 72.
_Collegia_ of Romans, 2, 13.